New Member - Essex Based - Restoring a daily driver

[AJSGSE1990]

Hello all, just bought my first Elan. My plan is to give myself a year to work out any issues, rust or other bits and then for it to become a daily driver. Not planning any modifications other than any that are a specific "better" part. Car is pretty sound on first inspection, might just need to spend a bit of time on the sand blaster for some of the suspension arms. Lucky enough to have a lift at home and a half decent garage so am planning to try and do most of it myself.

My only non-standard plans are to ditch the old immobiliser for something more reliable, a more connected 1 DIN stereo and if the electrics get really annoying PDM the whole thing like I did with my Alfa and Lancia.

Otherwise, I am dusting off my old glass fibre construction books to see if I can fashion a hard top.

Many thanks in advance for all the advice I am most likely to need.

Andrew,

[TorqueHorse]

Welcome!
Sounds like a great plan. It took a few years to get mine back up and running, but I'm now driving mine daily. Nice thing about a restored car with some miles on the clock already, every new mile is guilt free!
Looking forward to seeing pics of your purchase and progress along the way.

[AJSGSE1990]

Welcome!
Sounds like a great plan. It took a few years to get mine back up and running, but I'm now driving mine daily. Nice thing about a restored car with some miles on the clock already, every new mile is guilt free!
Looking forward to seeing pics of your purchase and progress along the way.

Thank you Matt, I'm actually in Austin for the MotoGP in March, any recommendations for "must do" activities. Currently trying to watch/read as much as I can on what to deal with and when. From past experience there are always a few, "if changing that, take the opportunity to do this", especially in tight engine bays where taking the cam belt cover off requires removal of an engine mount!!!

All the best,

Andrew.

[Rusty Wishbone]

Andrew,

Welcome to LEC. The Elan makes an excellent daily use car. I used to commute to the station in mine throughout the year, even running winter tyres through the colder months. It is good if you can park it under cover, though, as you can never stop the car from leaking for long.

My suggestion is to do a thorough inspection of the car, and if you can, use it for a bit to discover any problems. The rear suspension and the rear chassis rails where the rear suspension mounts is the worst place for corrosion, in my experience. The front suspension looks better after a repaint. Anything rubber will be end-of-life by now, including originals seals, door window rubbers and bushes, so you will probably want to watch out for some of them.

Enjoy the journey.